S6 Wont start
 

Wife went to work Fri in the S6m then phoned me at 4 to say it wouldn't start. Bearing in mind its an auto, when you put the key in and turn it there's absolutely nothing. The starter motor doesn't try and turn (it maybe shagged, but hasn't showed any signs of problems). Battery is ok. AA came out and checked it over, all the fuses are ok. He checked the battery and used his booster to try and start it all to no avail. Due to the weather conditions and the car park being dangerous I wasn't happy with him trying to get the under tray off to get to the starter motor to check it out. To me its as though the system thinks its in drive and wont try and start. Even taking it out of P and moving it through the selection and back into P it won't start so I don't think its the inhibitor. Any ideas for what might be a simple fix anyone?

Hmmmmmm Mine wont start unless you have your foot on the brake and in park.

I thought it was that simple Amanda but it wasn't :confused:

Ok

At a guess being an auto, I'd say it's the inhibitor switch on the Auto box.

Can you check it by running a wire from the starter solenoid to the + terminal on the alternator and see if she fires up?

I can try that if I can jsck the car up. We have a cobblestone drive and its all iced up and on a slight incline. I might have to wait till the thaw starts or get it down to my local garage

First I'd check to see if you get power to the starter.
Assuming you don't, then you can narrow down the problem to somewhere between the ignition and the starter.
Possible break in a wire although having had a few auto's in the past and have had similar problems, both turned out to be the inhibitor switch on the autobox.
Same thing happened to me when we were in the bus last year. Wouldn't start again after we'd filled up at the service station in Llanymenech (the same garage where Gaz works at funnily enough). Quick fix was to run a wire from the starter and when I needed to start it, just touch the wire against the live terminal on the alternator. Bit of a shit on a VW T25 as the engine is in the back and we were loaded up with camping gear!
When I got her back, just got Rob to by pass the inhibitor switch for me. Only downside is that it is possible then to start it in drive, but it was only supposed to be a temporary fix for her anyway!

a blast of something appropriate into the ignition (edited) switch...? :idea:

Mate that's a bit of bad luck!
Check that the inhibitor relay is clicking in the engine bay. Make sure that the selector switch is working, I.e the display on the dash matches the actual gear selected. Aside from that it's electrical checks. Can't remember if it has an aftermarket imobiliser?

Any idea which relay it could be Ben? I'll take a peek Mon. Also I need the part number for the ISV for the Coupe as a guy has foned me to say he may have a brand new one but needs the part number to confirm. I might be ringing you tommorrow to pick your brains if that's ok :tup: